While the seminary has made the project better, the project is still damaging to the neighborhood. The seminary also led with a frankly ridiculous build-out plan (would you pay $400K for a rowhouse on Loxley?) that they -- of course -- retreated from. It was basically an attempt to scare us into learning to love an apartment complex. I'm sorry, but you don't get credit for taking that off the table.

The reason for the strange zoning lies in the origins of the Richmond zoning ordinance. At the start, multi-family housing was the zoning for the seminary and its dorms. With a new ordinance in the early 60s, the proper zoning would have an I (institutional) zone, but when asked by the-then local councilman, they said they rather just keep it as multi-family -- weren't going to be developing it anyway. That's how the seminary's current uses (institutional uses) are non-conforming, and how a bad zoning decision 50 years ago can come back to haunt you.

The article is a fair analysis of the architecture of the plans. They simply do not fit the neighborhood in size, density or style. And frankly the relatively few seminarians who will live in this project will circulate out to be replaced by others. Those of us who own homes in the area will be stuck with its bland suburban visage forever,

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